Digital cash not on RBA agenda
The Reserve Bank has poured cold water on the idea of a digital Australian dollar, with head of payments policy Tony Richards declaring the demand isn’t there. A group of Australian fintech start-ups through industry body FinTech Australia last year wrote a letter to the RBA calling for a new digital currency, known as the ‘DAD’ or Digital Australian Dollar. “A centrally issued Digital Australian Dollar, backed by fiat [physical] currency, would enable payments to be made between participants in real time and 24/7 along the supply chain,” AgriDigital co-founder Emma Weston said last year. Meanwhile Othera CEO John Pellew said in the letter a ‘DAD’ would help his company […]
No wallet, no worries: Australian shops adopt Chinese payment apps
Businesses are signing up to China’s mobile payment services to tap into the lucrative Chinese tourism and international student markets. Vicky Yang pays for her groceries, not with cash or card, but by using an app on her mobile phone. The 25-year-old international student simply scans the Sydney supermarket’s QR code with her smartphone, and in seconds the transaction is completed. “It’s very convenient … you don’t need to take your bank card or cash. You just take out your mobile phone and you can pay,” Ms Yang told SBS News in Mandarin. The most popular apps are Alipay, owned by e-commerce giant Alibaba, and WeChat Pay, from messaging app […]
Automated advice to help Australians’ money grow
Cotton farmer George Stacey grows crops for a living and he’s also focused on watching his finances flourish. A long way from the hustle and bustle of city life, the 24-year-old works on a 97,000 hectare farm in Goondiwindi, 300km southwest of Brisbane, and said he loves investing in companies all over the world “from my couch in remote western Queensland.” Following in his father’s footsteps of investing, Mr Stacey said “ever since I was a young kid when the finance news would come I had a bit of an interest in it and my dad invested in a share portfolio”. “When I went out west and I started to […]
2018 Budgeting & Savings Apps worth checking out
Looking to take control of your finances, but don’t know where to start? Your smartphone could possibly help you, thanks to these new budgeting and savings apps that have grabbed the public’s attention. According to a recent study by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australia’s average household savings ratio (the ratio of income saved to household net disposable income) is currently at a record low of 4%. Furthermore, a study by UBank found that in 2017, two million Australians had less than $1,000 set aside in their savings accounts. There’s no doubt that saving money, tracking expenses and sticking to an allocated budget can be tough, not to mention that […]
How this fintech startup chief facilitated $50 million in Australian business loans without stepping foot in the country
Business loan marketplace Lending Express launched in Australia in 2016, and since then it’s facilitated $50 million in small business loans. But it was only last month that co-founder and chief executive Eden Amirav first set foot on Australian soil. Now the Israeli startup has secured $US2.8 million ($3.7 million) in funding, Amirav has plans to further improve the artificial intelligence-enabled platform, and to get his message to even more Aussies. Using artificial intelligence and machine learning, Lending Express connects small businesses seeking loans with alternative lenders. The business owner fills in an application via the online platform, and Lending Express runs an algorithm, immediately identifying the lenders that would […]
Startup ecosystem needs flywheel for growth: former FinTech Australia chief
Danielle Szetho, the inaugural CEO of FinTech Australia stepped down from her post in March this year. Since then, she has been traveling around Asia to meet like-minded individuals who are passionate about changing the world with technology, seeking new opportunities to contribute to the growth of Australia’s startup community. Talking about her past experience, Szetho said that the major factor in helping startup ecosystems to grow is momentum, the so-called “flywheel effect” that gets businesses rolling and also has a spillover effect on the entire industry. “The startup ecosystem in Australia, particularly in the last two years, flourished and many talk about startup ecosystems being very much driven by […]
London’s Fintech Émigrés look to Australia
Since the Brexit vote of 2016, the City of London has been rapidly losing its status as the financial technology capital of the world. Fintech startups have been moving their offices to other European cities; in fact, the mayors of Paris, Frankfurt and Amsterdam have been actively courting these companies, but Australia has benefited in a more direct manner. In the wake of the Brexit referendum, finance industry leaders in London were dismayed when they saw companies packing up and leaving. This situation prompted Mayor Sadiq Khan and city officials to spring into action and come up with ways to retain the financial prestige of London. On March 12, the […]
Australian Government backs Fintech HashChing with $700,000 loan from Jobs NSW
HashChing, a Sydney-based home loan marketplace, has just announced a $700,000 loan from Jobs NSW. Deputy Premier and Minister for Small Business John Barilaro said the NSW Government had backed the Fintech which is expected to create 46 jobs over the next five years. “Jobs for NSW is helping some of our brightest business people overcome barriers to finance – it’s about making smart investments that allow good business ideas and businesses to grow,” said Barilaro. “The Jobs for NSW Strategic Growth Loan will allow the company to hire software developers, product developers, a data scientist and sales and marketing staff to support HashChing’s continued growth.” HashChing is an online […]
